09x20 - Muddy Waters

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: even though hunters wear bright orange vests and

Hats, accidents still happen.

The problem is trying to figure out which sh**t are

Accidents and which are not.

In colorado investigators used forensic metallurgy, a piece of

String, and geology to see whether one man's death was an

Accident or m*rder.

Each year thousands of big-game hunters flock to the

Uncompahgre national park in western colorado.

Elk, deer, bear, mountain lion up in that area, so it's

Kind of a pretty area -- very remote.

Narrator: on the second day of hunting season in ,

Doug kyle was relaxing in his camp when he heard a woman

Screaming.

She said she found her husband lying on the ground near their

Camp.

He had been shot in the chest.

Go ahead, sir.

There's a man been shot and k*lled up here.

Today?

Yeah, and his wife's here.

She's going crazy.

I could tell that he was deceased, and I looked at her

And told her, "ma'am, I'm sorry, but he's gone."

Narrator: the victim was -year-old bruce dodson.

His wife, janice, said she went looking for him when he didn't

Return to their camp.

Right after this happened, or I was being told, anyway, that

It was a hunting accident.

He's a man walking upright through grass inches tall.

He's got a hunter-orange cap on.

He's carrying a r*fle.

The only thing that could have happened in this world would

Have been a one-in-a-million chance of somebody a canyon over

sh**ting at an animal and a stray b*llet hitting him.

Narrator: bruce's body was sent to the medical examiner,

Dr. Tom canfield, for an autopsy.

Bruce worked for me.

He was a medical technologist in the delta hospital, and I knew

Him very well, both on a professional and a personal

Level.

Narrator: the autopsy results were startling.

Bruce hadn't been shot once but three times.

Well, I was able to determine, one, that they were

Distant-range g*nsh*t wounds -- that is they were fired from a

Significant distance.

Narrator: one shot was a superficial wound that went

Through his hunting vest and grazed his back.

The wound that went through his vest but did not cause

Significant damage to him probably was the first shot.

I believed he then took the vest off to see what had

Happened.

[ g*nsh*t ] he would have turned in that

Direction and probably yelled out of fear, "hey, I'm not a

Deer!

I'm not an elk!

Hey, I'm over here yelling!

Don't sh**t!" Narrator: bruce was shot a

Second time while waving his vest in the air.

It entered his chest and exited under his right arm.

Mr. Dodson may have tried to crawl away when the last shot

Was fired.

Narrator: the third and fatal shot entered his back in an

Upward trajectory and was found in bruce's lung.

It was badly deformed but, by its size, identified as a

.-Caliber round.

The only landmark we really had to go on was the base

Design.

Narrator: janice dodson had been hunting on this trip, too,

But this b*llet did not come from her r*fle or bruce's.

So it couldn't have been bruce's r*fle that k*lled him.

Couldn't have been janice's r*fle that k*lled bruce dodson.

Narrator: but dr. Canfield was convinced the sh**ting was

No accident.

I was able to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt, and with a

Reasonable amount of certainty, that bruce died from multiple

g*nsh*t wounds and it was clearly a homicide.

Narrator: the autopsy revealed bruce dodson had been

Hit with three sh*ts.

We didn't know if maybe we had some maniac in the woods

With a r*fle just randomly sh**ting someone.

Narrator: investigators found a clue in a fence post near

Bruce's body.

It was a fresh b*llet hole.

So they used a string to perform a trajectory analysis.

We began where the victim was located at the approximate

Height of the wounds and went back to the fence post...

And then continued to string that back toward the area that

The shot was fired.

Narrator: in a clump of bushes yards in front of the

Fence post, investigators found a .-Caliber shell casing.

To find the b*llet that went through bruce's chest,

Investigators searched the area in the straight-line path beyond

Where bruce was standing.

With a metal detector, miraculously they found a

.-Caliber round.

At the end of that string was the b*llet.

I mean, it was...stroke of luck, stroke of luck.

Narrator: this raised the possibility that there were two

sh**t since a .-Caliber round passed through bruce's

Body and a .-Caliber round k*lled him.

None of that forensic evidence added up.

The analysis of the b*llet in bruce's body didn't match any of

The evidence that we had picked up at the scene so far.

Narrator: neither bruce nor his wife, janice, owned a r*fle

Capable of firing either caliber round.

A look into the victim's background revealed that

Bruce dodson and janice had been married for only three months.

Bruce said that janice wanted to go on this hunting trip.

He didn't really want to go, but to make her happy, he agreed to

Go.

Narrator: family members were appalled at the way janice

Behaved after bruce's death.

She threw everything that my brother owned away, had his dog

Put to sleep, sold his horse, took his name off the mailbox,

Like, the next day.

Narrator: even more alarming was the fact that janice's

Ex-husband, j.c. Lee, was camping less than a mile away

From bruce and janice at the time of the m*rder.

He was camped / of a mile from the dodson camp, where

John bruce dodson was m*rder*d, so it was quite suspicious to

Us, and we thought at that point, "we need to look into

This guy."

Narrator: when interviewed, lee said he owned a .-Caliber

r*fle that was stolen from his camp the night before bruce was

k*lled.

So that was really suspicious to us -- the fact that all of a

Sudden this man says, "I had a . r*fle stolen from my camp

While I was up there, but I didn't know it was stolen until

I got back to my apartment in utah."

Narrator: lee reported that some of his nosler brand

.-Caliber amm*nit*on was also stolen, the same brand as the

Shell casing found at the crime scene.

So a lot of things started pointing towards this guy,

J.c. Lee.

Narrator: j.c. Lee and janice had divorced because lee started

Dating a friend of their daughter's.

We thought that j.c. Lee may have been jealous of janice,

Recently marrying bruce dodson.

Maybe he wanted to get back at janice.

We couldn't link j.c. Lee to the dodson m*rder scene, and

We couldn't link janice dodson to the ex-husband's camp / of

A mile away.

Narrator: also suspicious -- janice had purchased three

Life-insurance policies on bruce shortly before his death.

She stood to gain almost $,, so that's a lot of

Motive.

Narrator: and after the funeral, janice's behavior was

Bizarre to say the least.

One of his last requests was to be cremated and have his

Ashes scattered in leadville, colorado.

Janice had taken bruce's ashes, and as they approached

Leadville, she dumped them on the side of the road.

Narrator: and janice told investigators she was going to

Her cousin's home in east texas to grieve, but investigators

Discovered she was doing no such thing.

We did a financial investigation on her, and we

Found that several times janice dodson's atm card was

Used in lake charles, louisiana, at a casino, players club, so

We're thinking, "how can she be in east texas grieving and her

Atm card's being used in louisiana at a gambling casino?"

Narrator: and even more bizarre -- not long after bruce

Was k*lled, janice married husband number , bart hall.

Bart hall -- nice guy.

He said, "I felt so strong for janice and for her welfare that

After we got married, I took out $, life-insurance policy

On myself just to make sure if something happened to me she was

Well taken care of."

With that, dave says, "you don't hunt, do you?"

Narrator: janice dodson denied any involvement in her

Husband bruce's m*rder.

So did her ex-husband j.c. Lee, who had an alibi.

His girlfriend and a co-worker confirmed he was hunting with

Them at the time of the m*rder.

Investigators searched the fields and forests near the

Crime scene for the .-Caliber r*fle used in the m*rder but

Found nothing.

We even cut down vegetation in the area, sagebrush, cleared

A large area, and looked visually as well as with metal

Detectors.

Narrator: they were hindered in their search because the area

Is covered in snow for almost half the year.

For the next three summers, bill booth, his partner,

Dave martinez, and others camped in the uncompahgre national park

And looked for the . r*fle.

On one of their trips, booth and martinez took along a member of

Necrosearch international, an organization of volunteers who

Use new technologies to find missing people and, in this

Case, missing weapons.

They were searching for the r*fle in a pond near j.c. Lee's

Campsite.

And it was at that time that we were at the pond near the

Ex-husband's camp when an individual from

Necroses international identified the lining of this

Pond -- stock pond -- to be bentonite clay, and he said,

"Boy, that's very unusual to have bentonite clay in the

Middle of the uncompahgre national forest in a

Stock pond."

Narrator: and this jogged their memory.

They remembered that janice dodson's clothes had been

Covered in mud on the day of her husband's m*rder.

Janice's muddy clothing had been kept in evidence for the past

Three years.

Jacqueline battles scraped some of the mud from the clothing and

Ground it to a fine powder.

Battles sifted and weighed the samples and then examined them

Under a polarizing microscope.

The mud from janice's clothing contained bentonite.

Bentonite is a claylike material comprised of minerals

Of aluminum silicates, magnesium, and iron oxides.

Ranchers would add bentonite as a sealant so that the water

Would be retained in the watering hole versus seeping

Through into the ground.

Narrator: the bentonite on janice's clothing was identical

To the sample from the pond behind her ex-husband's camp.

Battles examined mud samples from other ponds in the national

Park, but none matched the mud from janice's clothing.

So, out of the samples that were submitted from the three

Ponds and the bog, that night might not be common, but in this

Case, it was unique in that it was in only one of the ponds

That matched back up to the soil that was recovered from her

Boots.

We were ecstatic because we're now able to show that she

Was lying, and we are now able to show her in an area where the

m*rder w*apon was stolen.

Narrator: to investigators, this was proof that janice had

Stolen her ex-husband's g*n, possibly in an attempt to frame

Him.

We were able to put janice dodson at her

Ex-husband's camp.

We couldn't put the ex-husband at her camp.

Perhaps janice k*lled two birds with one stone -- j.c. Lee

And john bruce dodson.

We have no way of knowing what she had planned for j.c. Lee.

Personally, I feel that j.c. Lee was gonna be the fall guy, the

Patsy for janice.

Narrator: investigators still had one question to answer.

They knew a .-Caliber round went through bruce's body, but a

.-Caliber round was found in his lung.

Where did this .-Caliber round come from?

This case has more twists and turns than a snake, and it was

Just one thing after another.

Narrator: three years after bruce dodson's m*rder,

Investigators still didn't know why a .-Caliber round was

Found in his lung when it appeared that a .-Caliber

r*fle was used in the m*rder.

While reading a g*n-and-amm*nit*on magazine,

Bill booth discovered the answer.

He saw an ad for the nosler brand .-Caliber b*llet.

It showed a picture of the small inner core of the b*llet, which

Looked surprisingly similar to the b*llet found in

Bruce dodson's lung.

When I looked at the photograph of the cutaway and

Remembering the core that we had removed from bruce dodson's

Lung, it was the same -- very similar.

The projectile that entered the body was the b*llet core.

Passing through an intervening object very likely would have

Stripped off the copper jacket, and only the core would have

Proceeded from that area.

He has an epiphany.

I think he said, "that's it."

He got up and went down to a sporting-goods store and bought

Some of those b*ll*ts, went home, took one out, and cut it

Open in his garage -- "that's got to be it."

Narrator: most lead b*ll*ts are made from recycled car

Batteries, which have numerous trace elements.

A forensic metallurgist at the fbi analyzed the lead inner core

Of the b*llet from bruce dodson's body using

Plasma atomic emissions spectroscopy.

It was compared to the .-Caliber round found at the

Scene.

So she tested for a certain number of -- I think it was six

Or eight -- trace elements, and when you compare them, there was

A match.

Narrator: which meant both b*ll*ts were from the same

Batch.

The odds of a b*llet from the same batch being in the victim

And being in the hillside, of not being fired in the same

Sequence of sh*ts -- the odds against that are just

Astounding.

Narrator: prosecutors believe janice dodson planned her

Husband's m*rder almost from the day they got married.

And she chose a campsite just a short distance away from where

She knew her ex-husband had camped every year for the past

Years.

At some point, prosecutors say janice quietly made her way over

To her ex-husband's campsite, wading through the mud in the

Pond so she wouldn't be seen.

While her ex-husband was away, she stole his remington

.-Caliber r*fle and amm*nit*on.

But she never realized that the mud on her boots and coveralls

Could tie her to the robbery.

The next day janice went hunting alone, and her husband was the

Prey.

She hid in the bushes, waiting for bruce to walk by, and then

She fired.

The first shot only grazed him.

In a panic, bruce took off his vest and waved to the sh**t.

The second shot entered his chest and came out under his

Right arm, and he fell to the ground.

The third shot struck the fence post, shearing off the

Outer core before it hit and k*lled him.

Janice inadvertently left one of the . Shell casings behind.

She got rid of the r*fle somewhere in the colorado

Wilderness before calling for help.

Where she disposed of it remains a mystery.

If the suspect would have been a better shot and

Mr. Dodson would have been k*lled with a single shot, it's

Possible that this would never have been investigated as a

Homicide.

We wouldn't have been looking for b*llet fragments.

We wouldn't have been looking for mud analysis.

Narrator: prosecutors believed the motive was greed.

I believe she married him with the intent to beef up his

Finances and k*ll him.

That's about as cold-blooded as you can get.

She would have got revenge.

She would have got rid of bruce dodson, obtained

Approximately $, in worth, and also pinned the rap on

J.c. Lee to get even with him for leaving with their

Daughter's girlfriend.

I think it was an excellent plan that didn't work.

Five years after the death of her husband, janice dodson went

On trial for his m*rder.

We had forensic firearms evidence, forensic metallurgist.

This case was built on forensics.

Narrator: the jury deliberated for / days, then

Found janice dodson guilty of first-degree m*rder.

She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility

Of parole.

When the verdict came in in the courtroom, my legs turned to

Rubber, and all I can do today, and I never got a chance -- I

Wanted to thank the jury for all the work they did.

Narrator: to investigators and the forensic experts who

Worked on the case, janice dodson was one step away

From committing the perfect crime.

Janice probably never thought that where she walked and picked

Up soil on her boots and her clothing might have played a key

Part in convicting her.

Bruce was never far from our thoughts during this whole

Investigation, and I think he got some justice.

If it wasn't for forensics, I can tell you right now

Janice dodson would be walking the street.

She assassinated bruce dodson.

He didn't have a chance.

I wouldn't even call her a black widow.

I would call her just a greedy assassin.